Inalienable
by Paradox Predator
Summary: With Mutant Rights becoming an issue in America, SHIELD decides to place one mutant on the Avengers in the hopes that it will help them to be accepted. One problem. The only mutant on their payroll at the moment is Doreen Green- Squirrel Girl. Will this somewhat immature mutant have what it takes to change people's minds? AU. All post-Avengers movies will have impact on storyline.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own no part of the Marvel universe, cinematic or otherwise.**

**AN: I know almost nothing about Doreen Green, Squirrel Girl. I do think that the character sounds interesting, though. So, I heard of her, looked her up, and a few wiki pages and scans of comic frames later, we get a terrible fan-fic. Please be lenient with me, I thought that it was better than making up a random teen to join the Avengers. Anyway, she has a ridiculously impressive defeat list (Dr. Doom, MODOK, the real Thanos, Wolverine, Fin Fang Foom, the Mandarin, Deadpool, Ego the Living Planet, Terrax, Korvac), so I thought that her joining the Avengers wouldn't be that bad.**

**And yes, I'm including her ridiculous names for her squirrels.**

…

Recruited

By

Paradox Predator

…

"No," said Tony Stark. "Absolutely not. Why the hell would I agree to that?" He turned around and poured himself another drink.

Nick Fury rolled his eye. "You'll agree because the Avengers Initiative is still officially under the control of SHIELD. They may be based in your tower, but I get to put who I want on the team, not you."

"She's practically a teenager, Blackbeard," Tony said, turning back to the Colonel. "I can't have a rookie on the team; she'll just put us all in danger. Anyway, what does Legolas think of this? He's the one who'll have to watch her."

"Agent Barton's the one that recommended Agent Green for the team," Fury said. "She is one of our top agents in the field, you know. She defused a situation with the Latverian embassy last week."

"Victor von Doom up to tricks again?" asked Stark, mildly impressed. "Well, I'll take her on probation, okay? But I want to meet her first." He turned to his desk again and picked up his StarkPad. "Let's go meet Agent Green."

…

The SHIELD heli-carrier was a marvel of modern engineering. Stark cheerfully admitted this as he had designed part of it. Only part, because no one person was allowed to know too much about it, its inner workings were a secret to all but those agents with the highest clearance.

The quinjet that Stark and Fury had taken dropped onto the runway and the two men walked out. Nick in his usual SHIELD-issued uniform with his personal addition- a leather trench-coat, and Tony in some (designer) jeans and a (designer) band T-shirt. The duo walked through security checkpoints after having their IDs checked and a scan done. Even Colonel Nick Fury had to have anti-shapeshifter scans done- after all, the Chameleon was still at large, and there were rumors of aliens called Skrulls that could make themselves look like anyone.

"Agent Green is in the briefing room," Fury explained as they walked down the halls. "She hasn't been told that she's joining the Avengers yet. This way." He led Stark down to the briefing room. They were about to enter when yelling sounded from inside.

"Get out of here, you evil, evil man!" a young woman's voice said. "Don't you dare say anything like that again or I'll tear your face off!"

The door flew open and the mercenary known as Deadpool came tumbling out. He stood up, dusted himself off, and yelled back into the room. "Yeah, well someone already did that, sweetheart! Come on, us undefeatable types have to stick together!" He half-turned and noticed the two men watching. One angry, the other amused. "Hey Nick, hey Tony," he said before turning back to the open door. "I left you my number! Call me and we'll go out for chimichangas, 'kay?"

"Just get out of here!" the as-yet-unseen girl yelled back. "I'm waiting for my boss and I don't have time for this!"

Deadpool chuckled and turned fully to Stark. "She thinks she's funny, playing hard to get," he said, putting an arm over Tony's shoulder. The smaller man tried to get away, but the mercenary would have none of it. "So, Tony, how's life been treatin' ya? Got any jobs for me at the moment?"

"Nice to see you too, Wade," Tony said, attempting to step away. "No, I have nothing for you at the moment. Sorry."

Nick Fury decided to step in at this moment. "Mr. Wilson, what are you doing on board my boat?" he asked. "Last I checked, you didn't have clearance to be here." He crossed his arms and waited for an answer, giving the patented Fury Glare.

"Well, you know," Deadpool answered, pulling his arm from around Tony and fidgeting. The man could not stand still. "I was just delivering the Whirlwind to Dr. Pym, nice guy by the way, so that he could be shrunk down and contained, when I saw Tail Girl heading over here." He shrugged. "I was bored, how's that?"

"Tail Girl?" asked Stark.

"You still don't have clearance," Fury deadpanned. "Get out of here, Mr. Wilson, before I have Dr. Pym shrink _you _down for containment."

"Sir, yes sir!" said Deadpool, saluting in a sarcastic manner. "I'll be removing my handsome self immediately!" Thankfully, he was true to his word and left. Fury shook his head and led Tony into the briefing room.

Inside was a girl. She had clearly heard Fury outside and was standing at attention. She was wearing a standard-issue SHIELD uniform, had short brown hair and large front teeth, and was of medium height. She also had soft fur covering her forearms, and a four-foot long tail.

"Director Fury, sir!" she said, her salute in direct contrast to the one Deadpool had just given. "In the briefing room as ordered, sir!"

"Very good, Agent Green," he said, gesturing for them all to sit down. When they did, he addressed Tony. "Mr. Stark, Agent Green here is a mutant. As far as we can tell she's basically a human squirrel. What do you think?"

"I think I'll ask her," Tony said. "Agent Green-"

"Doreen," she interrupted before covering her mouth. "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt!"

"No, it's fine," said Stark, powering up his pad. "I just want to ask you a few questions. Is that all right?"

Doreen gave a nervous glance to Fury. When he nodded, she looked back at Tony. "Sure, Mr. Stark," she said. "Just remember that I can't tell you anything classified."

"If I get to call you Doreen, then you can call me Tony," Stark said. "So, first question-"

"Hang on!" she interrupted again. "Tony Stark? As in _the _Tony Stark of Stark Industries? One of the Avengers?" She realized what she had done and clapped her hand to her mouth again. "Sorry! Sorry, Mr. Stark!"

"Tony," he corrected before going on. "And yes. So, first question- what's it like being a mutant in today's society?"

"Well," Doreen said. "It's not great. When I was younger, the other kids at school called me 'Rodent.' A lot of jobs don't take mutants, especially ones with visible mutations, like me."

"Well, I can guess that it would be hard to get a job at a restaurant with that tail," Tony remarked, eyeing the odd appendage. "So, how is it at SHIELD?"

"SHIELD's great!" Doreen squeaked with a nervous glance at Fury. "Couldn't be better! No problems here at all!" Her tail flicked back and forth.

Tony sighed. "Fury, could you leave for a minute?"

Nick Fury stood up, looking enraged, which meant that he was slightly annoyed. "In case you hadn't noticed, Mr. Stark, this is my boat you're sitting on. What gives you the right to ask me to leave?"

"This is my consultation," Stark said, standing up and leaning on the table to face Fury. "You're making Doreen here nervous, and frankly, I'm not too comfortable being under your eye either, Blackbeard. You asked me to come here and conduct this interview." He smiled. "Are you gonna let me conduct it the way I want?"

Fury glared at Tony for a few seconds before deciding to let him have his way this time. "Fine," he said. "You got five minutes, then I want your decision. I'll be right outside." He turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Tony sat back down and laughed. "Okay, now that tough-guy's gone," he said, "how do you _really _feel about working for SHIELD? And don't worry," he smirked. "I disabled the security cameras from here." He tapped his StarkPad.

"Gee, well, it's all right," Doreen said, still looking nervous. "The pay's good and all, but some of the other agents…" She trailed off and looked embarrassed.

Tony waited for her to finish. When she didn't, he prompted her. "The other agents do what?"

"Some of them call me 'mutie,'" she said, rubbing the fur on her forearms and looking down. "They leave acorns in my locker and bunk. Some of them even cut the fur off of my tail while I was sleeping once." She laughed bitterly. "So much for my amazing squirrel reflexes and SHIELD-honed watchfulness, huh?"

"People are jerks," Tony said dismissively. "I'd like to know if you want to get away from all that?"

"Well, it's not all of the others!" she corrected quickly. "Just a few. Most of the other agents are great!" She looked up. "Wait, are you offering me a new job?"

"Uh, yeah, actually," said Tony, sliding his StarkPad over to Doreen. "Fury's already okayed it. The document up there is an Avengers contract. I just wrote that up a few days ago, it's gonna be the standard one. If you're interested, just sign on the dotted line. There's a stylus attached."

"Golly," Doreen whispered. "The Avengers…"

Tony chuckled. "Careful with the language there!" he joked. "Wouldn't want you breaking out the 'gosh darns' on us!"

Doreen blushed. "Sorry, Mr. Stark," she said. "I've never really cursed all that much." She took the stylus and started to read the contract.

"Eh, you'll fit right in with Cap," said Tony, "and didn't I tell you to call me Tony? Mr. Stark was my dad. So, you gonna sign that?"

"Err, yeah," Doreen said, signing her name with a flourish. "I'll just get my stuff and then we can go, right?"

"Yeah, let's go," Tony said. "You'll meet the others. It'll be great."

Doreen stood to leave, and then stopped. "Oh!" she gasped. "I have to write a resignation letter, and I need to give a month's notice, and-"

Stark cut her off. "Not a problem," he said. "You're officially still working for the big boys here. You're gonna be an Avenger the same way Birdboy and the Widow are Avengers, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed. "Let's go, then."

…

The quinjet landed on the roof of the Avengers Tower. Doreen had been glued to the window the whole flight. "No matter how much I fly, it's still awesome," she had said. Stark hadn't been pleased that she had insisted on having her pet squirrel, 'Monkey Joe,' out of its cage the whole time, but he let it go.

**"Welcome back, sir," **JARVIS said as they entered the building. **"And may I ask who your guest is?"**

"This is Doreen Green," Tony said. "She'll be living here now, so give her full clearance, okay?"

**"Right away, sir." **The AI agreed. **"Also, I feel I should inform you that Miss van Dyne is here. She was called in by Agent Barton."**

"Well, we'll go talk to her," said Tony. "Anyway, Doreen, this is JARVIS. He's my butler. Say hi, JARVIS."

**"Hello, Miss Green," **said JARVIS. **"I hope you enjoy your stay."**

"Uh, hi, JARVIS," she replied. "You can call me Doreen, though."

JARVIS directed the duo down the stairs to a meeting room where Janet van Dyne, clothing designer, was trying once again to convince Clint Barton to get a new uniform.

"Aw, come on!" she was saying when Doreen and Tony walked in. "Purple is so definitely your color! Won't you at least consider it?" She shook her head. "I've even got a helmet that's supposed to mimic a falcon."

Clint winced at the thought. "Thanks, but no thanks," he said. "I'm a SHIELD agent, not a clown. I'm happy with what I've got."

"Ugh!" Jan grunted. "Fine for now, but I _swear _that I will get you into a van Dyne Designs uniform by this time next year."

"Whatever you say," Clint said. He saw Tony out of the corner of his eye and grimaced. "Oh, hi, Stark," he said. "I see you got Doreen."

"Yep," said Tony, leading her into the room. "I did. Care to tell me why?" He crossed his arms and waited for an answer.

"Doreen here is perfect for intelligence work," Clint said, walking towards her. "She can communicate with squirrels, and we've got enough of those in the world for it to be useful in information gathering. Also, she's stronger than she looks."

"Alright," agreed Tony. "So, why's van Dyne here?"

Jan moved forward and examined Doreen. "Hawkeye here requested that I make Ms. Green a new uniform," she said. "Something nicer."

"Really?" asked Tony, surprised. "Why would you do that?"

Clint shifted uncomfortably. "I dunno," he said. "It's sort of a welcoming present. She's one of us now. She's an Avenger."

…

**AN: Yeah, sort of just introducing Doreen. I'm hoping to characterize her as unsure of herself and definitely self-conscious of having a squirrel-tail. I know that I can't write Tony Stark, but that's why this is practice.**

**Not too happy with this chapter. I may come back and edit at some point. Pft, like that's gonna happen.**

**Please review.**

**-Predator**


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter is when we really start getting into the Mutant rights stuff. I find the idea interesting because it's an entire new form of human popping up right at the beginning of the twenty-first century? Why now? Why did the x-factor take this long to become active? Obviously it's partially so that comics writers didn't have to talk about Medieval Mutants or anything, but is there an in-universe explanation? I dunno.**

Settling In

…

After the consultation was finished, Janet van Dyne had left the Avengers Tower with promises that Doreen Green's 'super-suit,' as she called it, would be finished within the week. When she was gone, Clint and Tony led her to the common room to meet the rest of the team. Tony had JARVIS call them all in and when they got there, introductions commenced.

"Nice to see you made it," said Natasha Romanoff, another SHIELD agent, known as the Black Widow. "I thought that Stark here wouldn't dream of letting a kid join the team."

Before Doreen could reply, a tall, blond man stuck out his hand for her to shake. "Nice to meet you, ma'am," he said. "I'm Steve Rogers, and your name is..?" He waited for a response.

Doreen nervously curled her tail around her waist and shook Captain America's hand. "Doreen Green, Captain. You can just call me Doreen, though," she said, glancing around. "Golly, um…it's really nice to meet you, sir."

"The pleasure's all mine, Miss Doreen" Steve said, releasing her hand. "Would you like me to introduce you to Doctor Banner?" He led her over to an unassuming man seated on the couch.

"Yeah, sure," she said, repositioning Monkey Joe on her shoulder and walking next to the Captain.

"Dr. Banner," said Steve as the man, apparently Banner, stood up. "This is Ms. Doreen Green. Ms. Green- Dr. David Bruce Banner."

"Uh, you can call me Bruce," he said. "It's very nice to meet you, Ms. Green-"

"Doreen," she corrected automatically.

"Right, Doreen," Banner agreed. "It's very nice to meet you, but I think that I'm going to just go back downstairs now. I'll see you later." He turned and was about to leave when Doreen stopped him.

"Um, Dr. Banner?" she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He stopped and turned to face her. "I just wanted to say, it's an honor to be working with you. Well, with all of you, but you especially."

Bruce looked confused. "Why me especially?" he asked. "I'm hardly the most important member of the team."

"But you are!" Doreen corrected. "You're a hero to mutants these days because you have this mutation, but you don't hide it. You're out there taking on the world even with the Hulk!" She smiled and patted his shoulder. "You're a symbol to others that they don't have to hide who they are." She sighed in relief. "And I have been practicing that speech since the Battle of New York in case I ever got to meet you."

Banner actually cracked a smile at that. "Well, I guess I could stick around," he said, "if it means that much to you." He sat back down on the couch and Doreen gave him a grateful look.

"So, Dora," Stark interrupted just as she was about to say something. "Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?"

"Well, first off," she said, "I don't like being called 'Dora.'" This elicited laughter from the other Avengers, most of whom were sitting down by now. "Seriously, though, there's not much about me. I'm just the squirrel girl."

"'Squirrel Girl,' I like that," Tony said. "JARVIS, make a note of that. Doreen Green- possible aliases: Squirrel Girl."

**"Noted and documented in her new file, sir," **said JARVIS from a nearby speaker. **"Will there be anything else?"**

"Not right now, buddy, but thanks for asking," Tony said.

**"I do try my best, sir."**

"Anyway, Doreen," Tony continued. "There's gotta be something there. What's the matter? Some sort of weird secret? A love affair?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh, golly, no!" gasped Doreen, annoyed. Steve didn't look too happy either. "It's just-"

Unfortunately, they never got to hear what it was. There was the sound of a distant explosion and JARVIS' voice came through the speakers again a second later. **"Sir, Colonel Fury is on the line," **it said.

"Alright, I got it," said Tony, standing up and taking out his StarkPhone. "Everyone, suit up. And Cap?"

"Yeah, Stark?" asked Steve.

"Get Squirrel Girl here a communicator."

…

Doreen supposed that she was Squirrel Girl now. Oh well, it wasn't as bad as 'Penance' or 'Psi and Fi' she supposed. And it was nowhere near the level of stupidity that 'Big Bertha' and 'the Doorman' had achieved (why had she hung out with them?). Running through the city, scaling walls next to Captain America- it was awesome, regardless of her code-name.

"So, what's the deal, Iron Man?" she said into her comm. unit as she stopped on top of a building. "Where we headed?

_"We're going over near Central Park," _Tony's voice said in her ear. _"There are some idiots who think they can bring back HYDRA causing some trouble. Fury wants us to take 'em out."_

"Roger that, Iron Man," Doreen said, "Squirrel Girl out." She turned to Steve who was standing next to her (and towering above her). "You hear that, Captain?" she asked. "These guys think that HYDRA was right."

"Well, isn't that great," Steve said, smiling grimly. "Well, I took them out before and I can do it again. Let's go, Miss Doreen."

"Just Doreen," she whispered as she made a flying leap to the next rooftop.

When they got to Central Park, Doreen was amazed for a second before the ridiculousness set in.

"Really?" she said incredulously. "Robots in Central Park? What is this, a bad sixties comic strip?"

The HYDRA-wannabes had set up four large octopoid automata in the park and were beginning construction on a small tent-city surrounding a machine.

"Talk to me, Stark," said Steve. "What are we looking at?"

_"Well, it looks like a crude attempt at building an inter-dimensional portal," _Tony said over the comm. "_Cap, you said that red-head Schmidt disappeared into the tesseract, right?"_

"Yeah, that's right," Steve said, looking worried. "So what's going on here?"

_"Well, it looks like this is their attempt to bring him back," _said Tony. _"Wow, they're pretty prepared for this. See how deep into the ground that thing's set? That must have been the explosion we heard. I wonder what's powerin-"_

_ "No offense, Stark," _said Clint into his headset, _"but we need to quit talking and fight. Bruce?"_

_ "I'm on it," _Banner sighed resignedly into his earpiece before hulking out. Doreen was amazed at the creature. The largest mutation she had ever seen before was Hank McCoy after he had gone all 'Beast' while trying to find a way to enhance his abilities. The Hulk was in a whole different ballpark than the Beast- no, the Hulk was in a whole different _league._

He was huge, he was strong, he was angry, and Doreen was impressed. However, she felt like joining the fight before the Hulk got it all to himself. "Watch this, Captain," she said.

Steve turned to look at her and she curled her right hand into a fist, a claw shooting out from her knuckles. When she thought that the Captain looked thoroughly shocked, she flexed the fingers of her left hand and claws grew from her fingertips. She smiled at him, her eyes glowing red.

"I'm an intimidating squirrel," she explained, letting her pet off of her shoulder and beginning to address him. "Monkey Joe," she said. "I need you to round up a lot of other squirrels and attack. Remember how we took down the DoomBots?"

The squirrel nodded and rushed off, leaving Steve slightly confused. "Uh, that's interesting," he said.

"Most people say that," said Doreen. "Well," she corrected herself, "actually, most people freak out and run. Thanks for not being one of them." With that, she turned and ran into the fray.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Miss," Steve said before hurling his shield at a HYDRA agent. _When did they start wearing green and yellow? _he asked himself.

…

Doreen couldn't actually remember much of the fight. She remembered the awesomeness of it being her first battle fighting alongside the _Avengers, _for goodness sake! She remembered the Hulk giving her a fastball special onto one of the octopoids, and she remembered the squirrels that helped her take it down (well, with help from Black Widow).

However, it was Captain America who was the real hero of the fight. As a few HYDRA agents were charging up the portal, he ran up to the power converter, deflecting bullets all the way, and used his shield to smash the tubing that held the wires going between the converter and the device. Once that was done, he and Hawkeye took out the last automaton and quickly convinced the remaining fighters to surrender.

Unfortunately, what stuck in Doreen's head was the aftermath of the fight.

When the clean-up was finished, Stark organized (read: got Pepper to organize) a press conference both to discuss the fight and to introduce the latest member of the Avengers.

"So, this is Doreen Green, the Squirrel Girl," he said. "She's not in uniform yet, because it's still being made, but it's gonna be good." He winked at the crowd and Doreen rolled her eyes and tried to get out from Tony's arm around her shoulders. "Doreen here has a rare mutation," he went on, "that allows her to-"

"A mutie?" someone interrupted. "They're lettin' them gene-jokes onto the Avengers now?"

"Freak!" another person yelled. "Why don't ya go back to the woods, where ya belong?" They picked up a rock and threw it. Fortunately, Tony was still wearing his armor, and he vaporized the stone before it got anywhere near them.

More people began yelling insults, and Doreen paled as she remembered when things like this had happened before. It had been when she was at school before Xavier had found her. When she was only eight.

…

_"Rodent!" a kid said, pulling her tail. "Why are you here? You're not normal!"_

_ "Yeah!" said another kid. "Why don't you go back into the forest to live with your friends?"_

_ Doreen hugged Slippy Pete closer to her as she cried. Why wouldn't they leave her alone? What had she done to them? Nothing, that's what. "Please stop," she whispered._

_ Then salvation for the day came. "Hey, cut that out, guys!" said the voice of Doreen's only friend._

_ "Robbie!" she said, looking up gratefully as her tormentors left. "Gee, thanks, Robbie."_

_ "It was nothin'" he said, scuffing his toe. "Those guys are jerks. Wanna go inside and draw…or something?"_

_ "Okay," she said with a smile, releasing Slippy Pete so that he could climb a tree. "Let's go."_

…

"Doreen," she heard someone saying as she snapped out of her thoughts. "Doreen, you okay? You zoned out for a second."

"Hmm?" she asked, looking up. It was Clint. "I-I'm fine, Barton," she lied. "Let's just get out of here." She turned and began walking to his motorcycle. "You mind giving me a lift?"

"Yeah, let's get away from these jerks," he said. "Later, though, we're talking about this. You got that?" He climbed onto the bike and Doreen sat behind him. They pulled away, as the sound of Iron Man yelling at the crowd faded away behind them.

…

Sitting on the couch in Avengers Tower, Doreen curled her tail around her and waited for the others to get back. Clint perched on the back of a nearby chair, staring at her creepily with an agitated look. She was just about to ask him to stop when Tony walked in, sans armor.

"Well, I should have anticipated that," he said before sitting down next to Doreen. "So, how's it going, Hammy? You gonna recover from this?"

"I'll be fine," she said. "I just haven't had that happen for a while, where people are so open about hating me."

Banner chuckled bitterly as he walked in. "Yeah, I know how that feels."

"No, you don't!" Doreen said angrily. "You aren't actually a mutant, you're a _mutate!" _She spat the word out like it was dirty. "That means that people will accept you a bit more because you haven't always been like that! They think 'Oh, poor Dr. Banner, he accidentally turned into the Hulk!' With mutants, they see us as an invading species!"

"You ever hear of the Hulkbusters?" Bruce snarled. When Doreen nodded, he went on. "Yeah, that's an entire army unit put together to kill me if I get out of hand. There may be Sentinels watching mutants, but at least no one's actively trying to kill you all yet."

"Am I supposed to be grateful?" Doreen muttered. "Should I be saying 'Thank you for allowing us to survive at the bottom rung of the ladder'? Because I won't. I'm a human being too."

"Can I get a word in edgewise?" asked Stark. No one objected, so he spoke. "Listen, Chip," he said. "You personally are not at the bottom of the social ladder." He stood up and began to pace in front of the window. "You've joined a team of superheroes. For better or worse, you're in the public eye.

"You can sit here and mope about the nasty people, or you can get out there and show them that you're a person too. Who knows, maybe you'll make it better for the other mutants out there" He turned back towards Doreen. "What's it gonna be?"

…

"I hate you, Stark," Doreen sighed. It had taken her two weeks to give Tony his answer. In that time, she had moved fully into the tower, gone on another short mission, and finally gotten her costume from Jan.

The 'super-suit' consisted of a furry brown leotard over a black bodysuit with a hole for her tail. The sleeves stopped just before the fur started on her forearms and the whole thing finished off with fluffy legwarmers. Doreen had complained that she felt like she was acting in '_CATS_,' but Tony had given the costume his seal of approval.

However, this was not what she was complaining about at the moment. The problem at the moment was that Stark had arranged a press conference. For her.

"No, you don't" Tony said with a grin. "Admit it, Chip, you love me to death."

"Exactly," she said, "emphasis on the 'to death' bit. Seriously, Tony, what were you thinking, organizing a press conference for me? They're gonna kill me!"

"Positive thinking, remember?" Tony said, putting his helmet on. "We talked about this. You're not allowed to mope around. Only guy allowed to mope around the tower is Bruce. I can't deal with more than one moper. Just get out there and do this." With that, he pushed Doreen out onto the small stage that had been set up for the day.

Squirrel Girl stood alone on the stage facing an enormous amount of reporters and camera-men. "Golly," she whispered. "Well, let's do this."

…

**TBC**

**AN: Well, Doreen's a little more angsty here than I wanted. I know that she likely is not in character, but that's why I'm writing it, not Stan Lee. So I can do what I want. Of course, I have tons of respect for Stan Lee. Anyway, I'm having some fun.**

**Haha, Bruce vs. Doreen angst war. I did not actually plan that, but it was fun to write.**

**Next chapter, I think the Amazing Spider-Man starts. It is highly likely that it will not play a gigantic role in the chapter seeing as Spidey solves it by himself in the movie. Also, Doreen meets some old friends, and helps take down the Serpent Society. Note the 'helps'. The second she starts turning into a Mary Sue, you guys tell me so that I can knock it back, okay?**

**Please review.**

**-Predator.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, this chapter did not go as planned, but we still get some old friends of Doreen's. I don't know if Trask is realistic, as I have been lucky enough to avoid experiencing racism, and am just guessing at the mindset. Still, he creeps me out and I'm writing him. Hopefully the next chapter will be more fun.**

**Also, I am crossing over with X-Men, simply because they are the biggest pro-mutant activists, and I want to use as much of the Marvel universe as possible. I hope you like it, and I'm sorry if any German words are spelled incorrectly or the sentence structure is wrong. I'm using Google translate.**

Speaking Out

…

This had been a bad idea.

"Squirrel Girl, how do you feel about-"

A very bad idea.

"Miss Green, will the Avengers be-"

Doreen wanted to kill Tony Stark. As soon as her knees stopped banging together and she could speak again, she was going to go back there and- Wait, someone was being polite?

"Miss Green? My name is Peter Parker, and I'm representing my school paper. May I ask some questions?"

School paper? How did this kid get here? Still, there was no backing down now.

"Yeah, sure, ask me any questions you want," Doreen said, moving closer to the edge of the temporary stage.

"So, uh, what's it like being an Avenger?" asked Parker. "Is it fun? Is it scary?" He made a face. "Sexy?"

"Uh…the first two," Doreen said, blushing. "We deal with a lot of weirdoes. From your everyday, run-of-the-mill idiot with some armor made out of scrap-metal, to the HYDRA revival movement. It's only been two weeks since I joined, and in that time I've been sat on, run into walls, thrown through the air and almost sucked into a homemade black-hole. So, it's pretty scary sometimes. Any other questions?"

"Yeah, uh, Miss Green," a blond man in a suit came up to the front of the small crowd, "I'm Eddie Brock from the _Daily Bugle_. Can you tell us what it's like being a mutant?"

Several members of the crowd gasped at the elephant in the room, but Doreen did her best to remain calm. "Um, gee, I don't know," she said. "Can you explain to a blind person how red is different from green? I haven't ever _not _been a mutant, so I can't really say how it's _different _from being your everyday human.

"I can explain what it's like using my powers versus not using them, though," she continued. "When I use my tail, I have better balance than when I have it wrapped around my waist. I know from tests that I have better night vision and am slightly more agile than the average human.

"Which leads me to my next point," she said. "People always talk about mutants like we're a different species. Well, how many species do you know of that give live birth to their natural enemy?"

The reporters looked slightly confused. What did that mean? Mutants didn't give birth to their enemies. They usually had other mutants, quite often with a mixture of powers from the father and mother.

"I'm talking about you guys," she explained. "Humans sometimes give birth to mutants. Normally, a species has children of the same species. Just as a rule, you know? Of course," she mused, "the problem goes both ways. Some mutants consider themselves better than humanity."

Doreen continued, raising her voice. She was on a roll now. "Erik Lensherr calls mutants _Homo superior, _as though we were an entirely different species, and one that is above normal humanity! Anti-Mutant activists call us 'muties,' 'freaks,' or 'gene-jokes,' as though we were some sort of mistake. As for me, however, I prefer to be known as a very unique member of _Homo sapiens. _Thank you."

There were a few more questions after that, but Doreen was able to handle most of them with ease now that she had lost her fear of the crowd. Afterwards, she headed back into the tower and found some of the other Avengers waiting for her.

"Don't think that you're off the hook," she said to Tony, punching him lightly in the chest as she walked past. "I'm still mad at you."

"I think I can live with that," he said. "Did you see yourself out there, Chip? You were good! I think that you should be our new PR guy- uh, girl. Whichever."

"Actually, you were pretty good," said Clint. "When'd you write that speech up? I almost went out there to take photos and cry!" He grinned. "I'm too manly for that, though."

In answer, Doreen stuck her tongue out at him and said "Of course, you're so manly, Mr. 'I-don't-like-how-they-have-Natasha-pose-for-photos-so-I'll-pose-that-way-too." She had to duck then as Clint growled playfully and swatted at her with an arrow.

"Come on," Tony said. "Let's go inside and then you two can beat each other up in the basement."

…

The next morning, Doreen woke up to the sound of a chanting crowd coming from outside. Jumping out of bed, she opened her curtains to see two groups in front of the tower.

One was carrying signs with slogans like 'Mutants for the Avengers,' 'X-Genes Assemble,' or 'Mutants are People Too.' Several members of this crowd had obvious mutations like green skin, fur, or pupil-less eyes. In the lead was a young man with tridactyl feet and bug-like wings.

The other crowd had a general bad attitude, and the people in it were carrying signs proclaiming to the world how inhuman mutants were, and how they deserved to be destroyed. What really made Doreen nervous, though, was the fifteen-foot-tall, Trask Industries, _Sentinel-_class android accompanying them.

Sentinels had been created by Bolivar Trask, one of Stark's competitors, with the mission to keep America's mutant population 'under control.' To Bolivar, this meant keeping them in a perpetual state of fear while he tried to get the government to fund concentration camps. His son, Larry Trask, was out there now with a megaphone.

Clint burst into the room, distracting Doreen from the scene at the window. "Hey, we got a- Oh." He stopped and flushed slightly at seeing her in her pajamas, then grinned instead. "Nice acorn jammies, Squirrel Girl."

"Shut up," Doreen said, throwing her pillow at him. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I was going to tell you about what's going down outside, but you've already noticed," Clint said, backing out of the room as Doreen reached for the latch on Monkey Joe's cage. "You might wanna suit up. It could get nasty. By the way," he winked at her, "did I mention how much I love the pajamas?" He had to run as Doreen unleashed her squirrel on him.

"You're hanging out with Stark too much!" she called after him as she jumped out of bed to get ready.

…

When she left her room, Doreen walked into the kitchen. Tony was sitting at the counter with a newspaper and a mug of coffee. "Hey, Chip," he said. "Everyone else is outside. I stuck around to wait for you. You see this?" He slid the paper across the counter.

"No, I haven't." Doreen sat down and took a look at the paper. It was the _Daily Bugle. _The front headline proclaimed 'Mutants take Manhattan!' Underneath was a picture of Doreen in her Squirrel Girl outfit, with the quote 'Erik Lensherr calls mutants _Homo superior.'_

"Isn't that lovely?" asked Tony, taking a gulp of his coffee. "I have half a mind to buy out that rag and make them print a retraction!"

"Oh, gosh, don't do that!" Doreen squeaked, jumping up. "Really, there's no need to trouble yourself!" Was he really going to do that? He wouldn't do that would he? He would.

Tony glanced at her and chuckled. "Don't worry, Rocky," he said. "Even if I did buy it, I wouldn't fire everyone. Probably." He pretended to think for a moment. "Eh, probably just Jameson and this Brock guy who wrote the article." He picked up the newspaper and threw it in the trash. "I'm gonna go suit up, just in case. Don't start a riot while I'm gone."

"I'll do my best," Doreen muttered, heading for the elevator. She took it down to the lobby where Clint was waiting for her.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," he joked. "Your loyal fans wait outside. Well, your fans and your fans' enemies." He opened the door. "Let's do crowd control: Avengers Style."

"I can almost hear the theme music," quipped Doreen, walking past Clint to take a look at the situation. Steve stood outside in his Captain America uniform, trying to make sure that the crowds didn't try to kill each other. Natasha was over on a roof, and Bruce was just trying to stay calm.

Larry Trask stalked up to Captain America and started to give him a piece of his mind. "You're supposed to be protecting America!" he yelled. "How can you let that little mutie onto your team, huh? What are you thinking?" He poked a microphone at the Captain so that everyone would hear him.

Steve didn't flinch even when Trask got right up in his face. "Well, sir," he said, "I was thinking that despite her…unusual abilities, she would be a valuable member of the Avengers Initiative. So far she has proven her worth several times over."

The pro-mutant crowd cheered as the anti-mutants booed. Trask turned back to his crowd and held the microphone to his own lips. "This is just what we're talking about!" he said. "The government doesn't care, the Avengers don't care, and even Captain America doesn't care!" He looked very pleased with himself; the crowd was right where he wanted them. "But I'll tell you what," he continued, "Trask Industries cares! Our Sentinels, like the one with us today, are programmed to hunt down and neutralize mutant threats. In fact-"

This was too much for Steve, and he placed a hand on the man's shoulder to interrupt him. "Excuse me, sir," he said. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe that orchestrating an attempt to destroy an entire race is illegal in this country." He shook his head angrily. "I couldn't stop you while you were just talking because of freedom of speech, but now? Larry Trask, you're under arrest for attempted genocide."

Trask scowled. "No," he said. "I'm not." He took a deep breath and turned towards his robot. "Sentinel number two-four-six-oh-one, activate!"

"Crap," said Clint, pushing Doreen back towards the doors. "You better get inside!"

The Sentinel's eyes lit up and it raised its head. "Activating," it said. "Calc-calc-calulating. X-Gene detected. Mutant threats acquired. Primary directive activated." Lifting its feet, the robot stomped towards the crowd.

"No!" Doreen cried, pushing against Clint. "Get all of the mutants into the tower, now!" She darted forward, grabbing the hand of a young girl with red fur. "Get inside the tower," she ordered, pushing the girl towards the doors.

As Captain America rushed forwards to engage the Sentinel, there was a soft _bamf _and the smell of sulfur, and suddenly a short, elf-like creature was running next to him. "_Guten tag, _Captain!" it said in a thick German accent. "It is _wunderbar _to meet you in person!"

"Who are you?" Steve asked, throwing his shield at the robot.

"I am called zhe Nightcrawler," the mutant said. "I and my friends are here to help you!" Nightcrawler ducked as Steve's shield flew over his head. "Alzhough, I zhink I vould be of better use in zhe rescue operation, _ja? _I vill send _mein freund, _Logan, to help out." The fuzzy, blue elf disappeared with another _bamf, _leaving Steve to fight the Sentinel on his own.

Back near the tower, Doreen had been grabbed by one of the Sentinel's grapplers- the long, metallic cables it used to capture mutants. Clint had pulled his boot knife and was trying to cut through the cord when a teenage girl burst out of the crowd. Twin metal claws shot from between her knuckles and she cut the grappler in a single swipe.

"It is good to see you alive, Red-tail," the girl said. "Excuse me, now. I must help my father fight the Sentinel." She vanished back into the crowd, but a moment later, Doreen and Clint heard snarling as two human forms jumped onto the robot, slashing it with adamantium claws.

"Uh, that's X-23," Doreen explained. "Come on, that's the last of the mutants inside the tower. Time to go all 'Avenger' on this thing!"

"Uh, nope," said Clint, grabbing her arm and pulling her back towards the tower. "The others have got it. You're one of its targets and you have limited powers. We're heading inside."

"What? No!" yelled Doreen as she again tried to push Clint out of her way. "Steve needs help!" she cried. However, the Nightcrawler appeared and helped him pull her into the tower.

"It's fine _frauleine," _he said. "Volverine and Laura are helping Captain America vith zhe Sentinel. He'll be fine." Gently pushing her through the doors, he pulled them shut behind them. With that finished, he turned to Clint. "You are zhe Hawkeye, _ja?" _he asked.

"Yeah," Clint said. "The name's Clint Barton. Who on earth are you, and what is going on exactly?"

"My name is Kurt Wagner," the mutant said, swishing his spaded tail back and forth, "but in zhe Munich Circus, zhey called me-"

"The Incredible Nightcrawler," interrupted Doreen angrily. "These guys are members of the X-Men, one of my old jobs."

"Job?" asked Kurt, incredulous. "Zhe X-Men are not a job, Doreen! Ve are a freedom force!" He kept talking, but to Clint. "Ve take in young mutants who need training and teach zhem how to use zheir powers at Professor Xavier's school. However, zhere are many people, like _Herr _Trask today, who zhink zhat mutants are inhuman beasts!" He sighed. "And I, at least, look zhe part, do I not?"

Clint was about to reply, but was interrupted by the Sentinel crashing through the tower doors.

…

**TBC**

**Sorry for the abrupt ending, but I had to finish this chapter. Once again, I apologize for any bad German and for the crossover if you don't like those. Next chapter should get the story back on track with where I originally thought it was going, but I'm not making any promises.**

**Also, originally, Larry Trask was far more repulsive. However, I seriously had a problem writing someone so creepy and toned it down somewhat. Yay for Cap! He'll always take his teammate's side in anything. Well, you know, in any serious situation. Not when Tony's just messing around and being a doofus.**

**A review will get you a pet squirrel. Don't you want a pet squirrel?**

**-Predator.**


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